It was this time last year that we shared our first “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile of James Comer, who was a GOP candidate for the Governor of Kentucky in the 2015 elections who somehow lost to cockfighting advocate Matt Bevin, as just before the primary, another candidate in the GOP field, Hal Heiner, accused Comer of abusing his girlfriend in college. While at first, this just seemed like an unsubstantiated slader, Comer’s college paramour, Marilyn Thomas, and her mother came forward to confirm the accusations, and add that Comer had also gotten her pregnant, and pressured her into getting an abortion. Which, guess what? Comer also claims to be pro-life without exceptions for rape, incest, or the mother’s life at risk… so that was not going to fly well for him. Comer ended up losing to Bevin in the primary by… 83 votes. Comer, as we noted in our write-up, is also pro-death penalty, opposes same-sex marriage, only wants abstinence-only sex education taught in schools, and has “A” ratings on his stance on guns from the NRA.
We thought this time last year that Comer would have to lay low for a few years, or that his political career could be in jeopardy. Lo and behold, he is already back in the thck of Kentucky politics, and did not just run in the 2016 GOP Primary for the right to replace retiing Rep. Ed Whitfield for his seat for Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District… he HANDILY won that primary, with 61% of the vote in a four-way race. Then again, his biggest challenge was from second-place finisher Mike Pape, who CSGOPOTD covered a little ways back for his grotesque ads with Mexican stereotypes sneaking across the border.
And now, in the general election, James Comer matches up against Sam Gaskins, a retired Army veteran, and tobacco farmer from Kentucky who takes a moderate position, and whose number one priority for helping the United States is creating jobs. Gaskins is looking like an underdog, what with the Cook Partisan Voting Index having a +18 Republican lean measured for Kentucky’s 1st District.
There’s something bizarre about seeing the GOP supporting a SECOND candidate who claims to be pro-life without exceptions who has previously gotten a woman pregnant, and pressured them to use their right to one (if you’ve never heard of Tennessee Congressman Scott Desjarlais, feel free to click on that and learn about him). Will Republican voters prop up such a career politician with such a seedy background, when his opponent is a blue-collar, small-business success army veteran like Gaskins, only because there is an “R” next to Comer’s name?
We wish that they really would vote for their conscience, and not the abusive hypocrite. But we don’t give them that much credit, considering current events.
One Year Ago, July 29th, 2015: James Comer (KY)… ORIGINAL PROFILE
Two Years Ago, July 29th, 2014: Walt Bayes (ID)